Thursday, September 30, 2010

Epic Brewing Company is hosting an outdoor beer tasting party, Beers for Bikes—An Epic Party, as a fundraiser for the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective on Saturday, October 23 from 1 to 8 pm. The event takes place outside in Epic Brewing Company’s parking lot, 825 South State Street. The entrance fee is a $10 donation to the Salt Lake Bicycle Collective and includes a commemorative Epic tasting cup.

Before the party, join the Epic Bike Parade at noon. Cyclists will tour from the Brewery, 825 South State Street, around Liberty Park and back. Decorate your bike, ring your bell and yell Epic!

The owners and staff of Epic Brewing Company are bicycle enthusiasts who want to encourage cycling in the community. Entrance proceeds will go directly to the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective.

The Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing on children and lower income households. www.slcbikecollective.org

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Desert Edge's Radius is now on tap! Radius, is made with ingredients grown within 100 miles of the Brewery. Brewmaster Chris Haas acquired the malt just over the state line in Idaho and personally picked the hops locally (with the help of many friends).

Radius is a golden ale, filtered with an extreme fresh hop flavor and medium bitterness. Last year it was only around for only a few weeks. So get it now or it will be gone.

Also new on the seasonal tap is, Augustus Amber Ale. Named for Chris' grandfather it's a nice hoppy version of an amber with big caramel maltiness.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

In the not too distance past when people needed to gain knowledge they typically had to make an arduous journey up a mountain... or something big; beg or convince the master, mentor or teacher that they were worthy of the gifts that they wish to be bestowed up on them and hopefully begin their tutelage.

With today's technology there's no need to go to the mountain. Now the Mountain can come to you. RedRock Brewing Company is taking advantage of their "mountain moving abilities" and delivering the knowledge strait to you.

Starting now, RedRock's "Beer Yogi" Kevin Templin is summoning people to the mount and would like to impart his considerable, award winning knowledge to those who desire it. RedRock Beer School is now accepting enrollment for the fall semester.

The best part about the Beer Yogi's classes? Clothing is optional... though I don't think Kevin really wants know what your are or are not wearing.

Kevin will be occasionally be emailing his brew musing to those who sign up at here and you’ll also be the first to know about live beer classes(clothing is required), tastings and new brews.

So, sign up today and you can tell your mom that your "actually doing something with your life".

Monday, September 27, 2010

We got the opportunity to try a lot of great beers at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival. I wanted to share some info on some of those great beers with you, but decided it wouldn't be very productive to tell you about stuff that for the most part may be very difficult for most people living in the area to obtain.

So we came up with the next best thing, a list of some of the medal winning beer that you can buy in the state of Utah. If you haven't had any of these, I'd recommend giving them a shot. And if you have? Revisit them when you have the chance.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Epic Brewing Co. in Salt Lake City has announced they've created a new series of beers especially designed for the Autumn months.

The Fest Devious line will be similar to Epic's Exponential Line in that the beers will be limited batches of highly creative recipes designed for the Fall Seasons palate.

Release #1 is a very light copper colored Märzen Lager made from Weyerman Pilsner, CaraMunich, Munich Malt 20, and Bonlander Munich Malt. Hoppped with Premiant, Tettnang and Saaz hops. It comes in right around 6% ABV. And should be available this afternoon or evening (9-24-10).

Fest Devious Release #2 will be the first curve ball, as it will be a Harvest Ale, made with local fresh (wet) Columbus and Cascade hops from Tim at Salt Lake's High Desert Organic Hop Farm. It has a blend of Maris Otter and Briess base malts along with a Caramel and Munich malts. It will be released in about two weeks.

Release #3 to be another Marzen but very different from release number one. No set release date.

All of these beers are pretty limited as they are 10 barrel batches. And will sell for a reasonable $4.29 each.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Sorry things have been so quiet this week. That whole "work" thing is getting in the way.

You may have noticed that when purchasing high ABV beers from some breweries and brewpubs you have needed to buy them directly from the brewhouse itself or from a specific area of the restaurant.

This is due to requirements of the of the packaging license that the breweries have. Since this license basically makes the brewery/brewpub an agent of the state they require some sort of storefront area.

Uinta opened their new shop area last month, Hoppers has it's own entrance; now Squatters Brewpub has created it's own bottle shop area specifically for people who want to make those out the door purchases.

In the case of Squatters, the brewhouse staff (Jenny & Jason) would have to man the door to the brewery. This cut into production time and created very limited hours. Now with a new dedicated shop, you can buy the high ABV stuff cold - virtually anytime.

The new bottle shop hours are now Monday through Saturday 11am to midnight. Most Squatters brands are available including Fifth Element and Squatters IPA in a Chubby (5ltr Keg).

Monday, September 20, 2010

Saturdays brief post pretty much said it all. Utah's participants at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival had another outstanding showing at the beer competition.

I guess you kinda had to be there. When the Utah Brewers Cooperative was named Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year, the crowd gasped at first - then cheered wildly. The industry folks really seemed happy to see Utah do well.

This is the second time in three years that a Utah brewery/brewpub has taken top honors at GABF. 2007 saw RedRock Brewing Company in Salt Lake City take home honors for Large Brewpub of the Year.

Many from outside Utah and even from within still have preconceived ideas about what Utah beer is and how it measures-up on a national and worldwide stage. You don't have to like Utah's beer but you can't deny that when all labels are removed, and you judge on taste not Alcohol by Volume our beers/brewers can Rock-it!

Congratulations to all that won and please go visit your local Brewery and Bewpub, medal winner or not - and ask them for a great local beer!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Apparently AT&T's coverage in Denver is nonexistent. so updates on Utah Beer will have to be done through Facebook. So check the Utah Beer Facebook Page for updates until AT&T gets their Denver Shit Together.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Wasatch/Squatters Chubbies are now on sale at the Utah Brewers Co-op Beer Store. Squatters IPA is available right now and the new Wasatch Golden Ale should be out this week (if not already out). There are four labels set to be released in the 5 liter mini kegs. The Chubbies sell for $23.95 and will soon be available in many Utah Liquor Stores.

The Great American Beer Festival is this week and many of the local brewers will be out of town representing. This means many of the smaller brewery beer stores will be closed or have limited hours, so check before heading out.

Also, Jenny and Jason over at Squatters have brewed-up the second release of last years hit, Outer Darkness Imperial Stout. It's scheduled for release on or near Halloween. Rumors are Outer Darkness may become a year round offering. Stay tuned.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Depending on who you talk to, last Saturday's beer festival was a huge success or a major disaster. The public's desire for good local beer was evident. Last minute ticket sales exploded leaving event organizer a bit overwhelmed.

The major problem was too many people not having access to the beer they paid big money for. In my opinion this has nothing to do with lack of planning; it's a simple numbers game.

The Wasatch Front is approximately the 30th largest market in the United States. As of 2008 Utah was ranked 24th in breweries per capita. This ranking has surely gone up with the addition of two new breweries this year. While that's a lot of breweries compared with more than half of the country, a festival like this, for a market of our size frankly needs more participating breweries to accommodate all the people.

It's tough in this regard because our beer laws don't really make it easy for out of state breweries to participate locally because of the whole "kegs vs high alcohol beer thing".

There are no easy fixes, just trial and error to find the best scenario for our area. I've been to more than my fair share of beer festivals around the country, and I've seen what works and what doesn't. I'm not going to try to "Monday Morning Quarterback" this thing because I just don't have all the info. But your constructive feed back will go a long way to make each attempt better and better.

Also, today Hoppers should be releasing their Stein Knockers Märzen today. If you got to the fest early enough you were able to get a early sample. Once again, Brewmaster/Secret Agent Donovan Steele Rocked-it!

Friday, September 10, 2010

It's Beerfest time tomorrow and if you haven't picked up you tickets for the City Weekly Utah Beer Festival, you'd better get on it! There are a limited number number of tickets available and the price goes up ten bucks if you wait until tomorrow.

Tickets are available at most participating breweries, City Weekly's Offices downtown and at Smithtix.

In past beer festivals your were able to bring children and pets. This is not the case for this particular festival. It all a technicality on the type of permit for the festival. So leave Rover and the kiddies with Gramps and Granny.

Need more info? I shot a preview story for Fox13 News. Hope to see you there!

Monday, September 06, 2010

If you take a look at Utah's new beer landscape, you'll find a wide array of beers that span the entire "Beeriodic Table". Some of Utah's most unique beers are of such limited batch size, they disappear as soon as they appear.

Two of these rare and different beers hail from Squatters Brewpub. The 5th Element Saison and the 529 Oud Bruin. These two locally made beers gave some Utahans who may be unfamiliar with some of the more brilliant of Belgian styles, a glimpse of rare styles that they may have never experienced.

Until a few weeks ago I thought that Squatters had sold out of them all. Happily I was wrong. There are still limited quantities of both of these beers available for purchase at Squatters' Bottle shop.

If you never got the opportunity to try one of these great beers, you've been given a second chance. The bottle shop has limited hours. Mon-Wed-Fri from Noon to 3pm.

Friday, September 03, 2010

Tenacity. You've got to have plenty of it when your brewery is literally a one man band operation. Shades of Pale Brewing Company, the little brewery in Park City doesn't get a lot of press (yet), but the enthusiasm of owner/brewer Trent Fargher keeps people interested in his beers; even if he has to give them away.

And that's exactly what he's planning on doing (sort of) at the Utah Beer Festival a week from tomorrow. Shades of Pale's initial line up is set and will be available for sampling. "We have 240 gallons of beer ready to enter kegs for chilling and carbonation for the event, hope we have enough". Trent told me earlier in the week.

Three styles we will be pouring, Parley's Pale White Ale, Slippery Slope Espresso Stout and A Perfect Stranger Kolsch. They have all come a long way and will be part of the foundational line in the coming months.

Trent is also working on three others new beers that will be ready in November and is planning on a late October - early November release date.

If your planning on attending the Utah Beer Fest, be sure you stop by Shades of Pale and get to know the New Kid.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

About a month ago, many readers got their panties in a bunch over a post titled "Greg Schirf Has a Chubby for You". The title perfectly described the story at hand. Greg Schirf had a mini keg, he's nicknamed the chubby (because it's well...chubby) in his hand and he'd love for you to have them them. Any inference to a dirty pun is on your dirty mind, not his or mine.

This morning I briefly wrestled with today's title and completely pussed-out. Today's post was set to be titled, "Nice Knockers"! which like the above mentioned title is a accurate description of the artwork and the beer. I caved in. So (at least for today) the more squeamish will get a reprieve. Now on to the beer.

Donovan Steele, Secret Agent and Brewmaster at Hopper Brewpub will be adding a new addition to their Storehouse Reserve Series in the next couple of weeks.

Next up is an Old-style Oktoberfest-Märzen called Stein Knocker Lager. It's made with all German grain and Spalter Select Hops. Märzenbiers are some of my favorite lagered beers. They're typically dark copper in color with a medium to high alcohol content. They are full-bodied, rich, toasty, with slight hints of vanilla. Donovan is quite talented where lagers are concerned, this one should be quite nice and will come in at 6.0% abv.

Märzens usually only pop-up during the fall months and it looks like Dono's will be amongst the first this season. As the release dates get closer we'll let you know when and where they'll be available.